After the transfer, the territories were gradually whittled away.
The
province of Manitoba was created on 15 July 1870, a tiny square around
Winnipeg, and then enlarged in 1881 to a rectangular region
composing the modern province's south. By the time British
Columbia joined Confederation
on 20 July 1871, it had already (1866) been granted the portion of
North-Western Territory south of 60
degrees north and west of 120
degrees west, an area that had comprised most of the Stikine Territory. In 1882, Regina in the District of Assiniboia became the territorial capital; after
Alberta and Saskatchewan became provinces in 1905, Regina became
the provincial capital of Saskatchewan.

In 1876, the District of
Keewatin, at the centre of the territory, was separated from
it. In 1882 and again in 1896, the remaining portion was divided into the
following districts (corresponding to the following modern-day
areas):

In the
meantime, Ontario was enlarged northwestward in 1882. Quebec
was also extended, in 1898, and Yukon was made a separate territory
in the same year to deal with the Klondike Gold Rush and to remove the NWT
government from administering the sudden boom of population,
economic activity and influx of non-Canadians.

The
provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan were created in 1905, and Manitoba, Ontario, and
Quebec acquired the last of their modern territories from NWT in
1912. This left only the districts of Mackenzie, Franklin
(which absorbed the remnants of Ungava in 1920), and Keewatin.
In 1925,
the boundaries of NWT were extended all the way to the North Pole on the sector principle, vastly expanding its
territory onto the northern ice cap.
The reduced Northwest Territories was not represented in the
Canadian House of Commons
from 1907 until 1947, when the electoral district of Yukon—Mackenzie River was
created. This riding only included the District of Mackenzie. The
rest of the Northwest Territories had no representation in the
House of Commons until 1962, when the Northwest Territories
electoral district was created in recognition of the Inuit having been given the right
to vote in 1953.

In 1912 the Government of Canada renamed the territory to Northwest
Territories, dropping the hyphenated form.
Between
1925 and 1999, the Northwest Territories measured – larger than
India.

There was some discussion of changing the name of the Northwest
Territories after the separation of Nunavut, possibly to a term
from an Aboriginal language. One proposal was "Denendeh" ("our
land" in Dene). The idea was advocated by
former premier Stephen Kakfwi, among
others. One of the most popular proposals for a new name—to name
the territory Bob—started out as a prank, but for a time
was at or near the top in opinion polls. In the end, as a poll
conducted prior to division showed, strong support remained for
retaining the name "Northwest Territories". This name arguably
became more appropriate following division than it was when the
territory extended far into Canada's northeast.

In Inuktitut, the Northwest Territories
are referred to as ᓄᓇᑦᓯᐊᖅ (Nunatsiaq), "beautiful
land."

Climate

The Northwest Territories reaches for over so there is a large
climate variant from south to north. The southern part of the
Territory (most of the mainland portion) has a subarctic climate while the islands and
northern coast have a polar climate.
Summers in the south are short but warm with daytime highs reaching
on average the low range, with overnight lows around . Winters are
long and cold, with daytime highs around , and lows around .
Summers in the north are short and cool, with daytime highs in the
mid teens, and lows in the single degrees. Winters are long and
harsh, daytime highs in the mid and lows around . Extremes are
common with summer highs in the south reaching and lows reaching
into the negatives. In winter in the south its not uncommon for the
temperatures to reach the 's but can also reach the low teens
during the day. In the north temperatures can reach highs of , and
lows can reach into the low negatives. In winter in the north its
not uncommon for the temperatures to reach the but can also reach
the single digits during the day. Thunderstorms are not rare in the south, but
in the north they are very rare but do occur. Tornadoes are
extremely rare but have happened with the most notable one
happening just out side of Yellowknife that destroyed a
communications tower. The Territory has a fairly dry climate due to
the mountains in the west.

Tree line

Tree line in Canada

About half of the territory is above the tree
line. There are no trees in most of the eastern areas of the
territory, or the north islands.

Demographics

According to the 2001 Canadian census the 10 major ethnic groups were:

Yukon Territory was ceded from the Northwest Territories in 1898.
Alberta and Saskatchewan were created from parts of the Northwest Territories in 1905.
Data through 1996 includes Nunavut. 2001 data does not include Nunavut.
2006 census data.

Language

French was made an official language in 1877 by the appointed
government, after lengthy and bitter debate resulting from a
speech from the Throne in
1888 by Lt. Governor Joseph Royal. The
members voted on more than one occasion to nullify and make
English the only language used in
the assembly. After some conflict with Ottawa and a decisive vote
on January 19, 1892, the assembly members voted for an English-only
territory.

In the early 1980s, the federal government pressured the government
of the Northwest Territories to reintroduce French as an official
language. Some Native members walked out of the assembly,
protesting that they were not be permitted to speak their own
language. The executive council appointed a special committee to
study the matter , which decided that if French was to be an
official language, then the other languages in the territories must
also be allowed.

The Northwest Territories' Official Languages Act recognizes the
following eleven official
languages, which are more than in any other political division
in the Americas:

NWT residents have a right to use any of the above languages in a
territorial court and in debates and proceedings of the
legislature. However, laws are legally binding only in their French
and English versions, and the government only publishes laws and
other documents in the territory's other official languages when
the legislature asks it to. Furthermore, access to services in any
language is limited to institutions and circumstances where there
is significant demand for that language or where it is reasonable
to expect it given the nature of the services requested. In
practical terms, English language services are universally
available, and there is no guarantee that other languages,
including French, will be used by any particular government service
except for the courts.

Mother tongue

The 2006 census returns showed a population
of 41,464.Of the 40,680 singular responses to the census question
regarding 'mother tongue', the most reported languages were:

1

English

31,545

77.5%

2

Dogrib

1,950

4.8%

3

South Slavey

1,285

3.2%

4

French

975

2.4%

5

North Slavey

835

2.1%

6

Inuktitut

695

1.7%

7

Tagalog

505

1.2%

8

Chipewyan

390

1.0%

9

Vietnamese

305

0.8%

10

Chinese

260

0.6%

11=

Cree

190

0.5%

11=

German

190

0.5%

11=

Gwich'in

190

0.5%

There were also 320 responses of both English and a 'non-official
language'; 15 of both French and a 'non-official language'; 45 of
both English and French, and about 400 people who either did not
respond to the question, or reported multiple non-official
languages, or else gave some other unenumerated response. The
Northwest Territories' official languages are shown in bold.

(Figures shown are for the number of single language responses and
the percentage of total single-language responses)

Economy

The NWT's geological resources include gold,
diamonds, natural
gas and petroleum. In particular, NWT
diamonds are touted as an ethical alternative that allays risks of
supporting conflicts by purchasing blood
diamonds. However, their exploitation has raised environmental
concerns, including the potential havoc that a spill from tailings
ponds could cause to unspoiled wilderness areas.

The vast natural resources and relatively low population give the
Northwest Territories the highest per capita GDP of all provinces or territories
in Canada. In fact, its per capita GDP of C$97,923 would rank it first in the world if
it were considered as its own country, well ahead of Luxembourg (at approximately C$83,000 (nominal
GDP)).

Government

As a territory, the NWT has fewer rights than the provinces. During his
term, Premier Kakfwi pushed to have the federal government accord
more rights to the territory, including having a greater share of
the returns from the territory's natural resources go to the
territory. Devolution of powers to the territory was an issue in
the 20th
general election in 2003, and has been ever since the territory
began electing members in 1881.

Unlike provincial governments and the Yukon, the government of the
Northwest Territories does not have political parties, except for
the period between 1898 and 1905. It is a consensus government called the
Legislative
Assembly. This group is composed of one member elected from
each of the nineteen constituencies. After each general election,
the new parliament elects a premier and speaker by secret ballot.
Seven MLAs are also chosen as cabinet ministers, with the remainder
forming the opposition. The territory's most recent general
election was on October 1 2007. The head of
state for the territories is a Commissioner appointed by the
federal government. The Commissioner had full governmental powers
until 1980 when the territories were given greater self government.
The legislature then began electing a cabinet and Government
Leader later known as the Premier.

Culture

Aboriginal issues in the Northwest Territories include the fate of
the Dene who, in the 1940s, were employed to
carry radioactive uranium ore from the mines on Great Bear Lake. Of
the thirty plus miners who worked at the Port Radium site, at
least fourteen have died due to various forms of cancer.
A study
was done in the community of Deline, called A Village of Widows by Cindy Kenny-Gilday, which indicated that
the number of people involved were too small to be able to confirm
or deny a link.

There has been racial tension based on a history of violent
conflict between the Dene and the Inuit, who have now taken recent
steps towards reconciliation.

Land claims in the NWT culminated with the creation of the Inuit
homeland of Nunavut, the result of the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement,
the largest land claim in Canadian history.

Another land claims agreement with the Dogrib
nation created a region within NWT called Tli Cho, between Great Bear and Great
Slave Lakes, which will give the Dogrib their own legislative
bodies, taxes, resource royalties, and other affairs, though NWT
will still maintain control over such areas as health and
education. This area includes two of Canada's three diamond mines
at Ekati and Diavik.